


Love Isn't An Exact Science

by PerfectlyLoudBouquet2



Category: GLOW (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, somebody had to do it, yes it's a high school au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-09-18 23:15:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20321131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerfectlyLoudBouquet2/pseuds/PerfectlyLoudBouquet2
Summary: High school AU: Yolanda needs a tutor in science.  Arthie is happy to help.





	1. Chapter 1

Arthie Premkumar is an exemplary student. Especially in science class. The thirty minutes she gets to spend in that class are like a religious experience. Everything falls into place. Science isn’t like English with its multiple correct answers or math with its imaginary numbers. And don’t get her started on gym class.

Science just clicks for her. It makes sense. And, after seeing science expose how small her place in the universe is, it’s impossible to get caught up in the petty drama of high school.

Yesterday, her teacher, Ms. Richardson, stopped her as she was about to leave class. She explained that there was a student in class who needed some extra help and would Arthie be willing to show up tomorrow after school to tutor her? She agreed, eager to make new friends.

But now, she was starting to have doubts about whether or not this was a good idea. Because sitting in her desk was Yolanda Rivas, one of the most popular girls in school.

What if Yolanda turned out to be a mean girl? Or what if she thought Arthie was stupid? Arthie’s heart picked up speed. She didn’t know why making a good impression was so important. Of course, her dad always said, “You can only make a good first impression once.” It’s just that he didn’t realize how much pressure quotes that like put on her.

Yolanda looked up and saw Arthie standing in the door. She smiled and Arthie’s breath caught.

“Hey,” she said. “You gonna come in?”

Arthie unstuck her feet from the floor and forced herself to move forward. She sat at the desk next to Yolanda and pulled it closer. As she did that, Yolanda scooted her desk closer too. Her fluffy hair shook as she did so and Arthie could smell her perfume. The scent triggered a memory of the first time she really noticed Yolanda.

The previous year, Arthie had been a techie for the school play. She enjoyed the solitude it afforded her and, as long as she kept up with her homework, her parents didn’t care what extracurriculars she did.

She couldn’t remember what the play was, but she definitely remembered seeing Yolanda. The girl was new that year, but she had fit in with everyone immediately. In the play, she’d been cast as a comedic foil to the main character and she was just so good at it. Behind the scenes, she was friendly and kind to everyone, something that translated beautifully to the stage. Arthie was always too nervous to talk to her backstage and mostly stayed out of her way. But sometimes, she would find herself forgetting the sets she was supposed to be painting, in favor of watching Yolanda read her lines instead. She completely owned the stage. It was riveting.

So of course Arthie had noticed Yolanda a year later as she walked into science class. She had sat down in the desk directly behind her and to the left. Not that Arthie paid a ton of attention to her. There was just so much to learn.

Granted, she was surprised to discover that, despite being a pretty popular person, Yolanda paid a lot of attention in class too. She didn’t pass notes or spend the whole class on her phone like some kids did. She asked a lot of questions. Good ones too. Smart ones.

“I don’t get this at all,” Yolanda said, pulling Arthie from her memories. She had the homework sitting on the desk in front of her. Arthie quickly pulled her binder out of her backpack.

“Well, don’t worry. You came to the right person. I love biology.” Arthie got out a blank piece of notebook paper and started sketching a skeleton. “This Friday, we have a quiz about the bones of the body. How much do you remember?”

“Uh. That we have bodies? With bones inside.” Arthie paused and looked over at Yolanda. She grinned sheepishly. “A lot of them.”

“Yeah. Two hundred and six.”

“Right. A lot.”

Arthie blinked. Oh wow. This was going to be a long tutoring session.

Suddenly, Arthie realized Yolanda was holding eye contact with her much longer than necessary. She looked down at her desk shyly and Arthie felt her cheeks heating up. Maybe a long tutoring session wasn’t such a bad thing.


	2. Chapter 2

The past week had been the best of Arthie’s life.

She was right about Yolanda needing a lot of help. They ended up having a tutoring session every day after school until the Friday quiz. And in the time between, Yolanda actually acknowledged her existence. She’d wave at her from a distance and, sometimes, she’d even come over and talk to her. Then, that Monday, Arthie was surprised to find Yolanda waiting at her locker after school.

“Hey!”

“Hey! I failed the quiz.”

“Oh no!”

“I know. I think I’m going to need your help more. If that’s okay.”

“Sure! Right now?” Arthie asked. Yolanda nodded. “Cool. Let me get the right books. I’ll meet you in the classroom.”

As Yolanda walked off, Arthie opened her locker and put her backpack away. As she got her binder, she realized she was beaming.

At the end of their meeting, Yolanda asked if Arthie would want to do a tutoring session at her house tomorrow. Arthie managed to hold her yes back long enough to seem casual. At least, she hoped she did.

However, standing outside of Yolanda’s front door, she felt her heart pounding.

‘Come on, Arthie,’ she thought to herself. ‘Yolanda may be energetic and popular, but she’s nice. You know that. Why are you freaking out?’

The door swung open to reveal an excited-looking Yolanda.

“Arthie!”

Her heart fluttered. “Hey!”

Yolanda grabbed her hand and led her inside. Arthie was so distracted by the gesture that she almost didn’t take in the interior of the house at all.

The house had an open floor plan. Arthie could see the kitchen from the front door, as well as an office area to the left and a dining area to the right. The living room was directly in front of them and a set of stairs cut into the wall beyond it. Yolanda pulled Arthie into the dining room. She sat at the chair that was next to her backpack and signaled that Arthie should sit next to her.

“Thanks for coming.”

“Huh? Oh, no problem.” Arthie got out her binder. She had been working on a lesson plan for the best way to teach Yolanda. She had charted out all the things they had yet to cover, everything Yolanda seemed to struggle with, and all the stuff she seemed to grasp quickly. When she was making it, she had thought Yolanda might appreciate the work she had put in and maybe even think she was sweet. 

It. Think it was sweet.

But now, in her presence, it seemed stupid and a little obsessive. Arthie opened the binder and quickly flipped past her lesson plan.

“What do you want to work on?”

“Whatever you think will help me pass the next quiz.”

“Well, our next quiz is going to be three weeks from now and it’ll be on the brain.“

“How do you know all this stuff?”

“Well, not to brag, but . . . Ms. Richardson and I are pretty close.”

Yolanda laughed and Arthie felt her heart lift. “Dork.”

“Plus I just love biology.”

“Why?”

“I’m good at it.”

“That’s it?”

Arthie frowned. “What do you mean ‘that’s it’? I’m good at it and it’ll help me get a job as a doctor – “

“You want to be a doctor?” Yolanda asked. Arthie paused a moment too long and Yolanda nodded. “Right.”

“No, no, I do!”

“Just because something is easy for you doesn’t mean you have to do it for a career.”

Arthie paused. No one had ever framed it like that before. She was naturally good at science, which would lead her into some high paying jobs. Of course she understood her parents’ insistence towards a medical future. But hearing Yolanda say that, she wondered . . . did she even want to be a doctor?

Yolanda went back to organizing her papers. “I don’t mean to push. If you want that, that’s fine – “

“What would I do?” Arthie said quietly. Yolanda turned to her. “I mean, if not that.”

She shrugged. “Whatever you want.”

Before Arthie could formulate a response, the front door opened and a tall man in a business suit entered the house.

“Yolanda!” He came over and smiled at Arthie. “And who’s your friend?”

“I’m Arthie.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Yo-yo,” Yolanda’s dad said, returning his attention to her. “Did you finish your homework before you invited friends over?”

“She’s helping me with homework, dad.”

“Oh. Are you – “

“If’s fine, dad.”

Arthie looked over and realized Yolanda looked annoyed.

“Is your mother – “

“Dad, I really need help with science. Could you – “

Finally, her dad seemed to notice her anger and backed off. “Oh, sorry. I’ll be in my office if you need me.”

Yolanda stared intensely at the papers in front of her until her father walked away. Once the door closed to the office area, Yolanda took a deep sigh of relief.

“You okay?” Arthie ventured. Yolanda nodded. Arthie wasn’t sure if she should press her on the issue or continue with the tutoring, so she stayed quiet. After a moment, Yolanda looked over at her.

“My parents are getting a divorce.”

That was definitely not what she was expecting. “I’m sorry.”

“They fight all day and then treat me like everything is fine, like I didn’t hear anything, like I’m an idiot. Do you know how much it sucks to watch your parents break up while you’re in high school?”

Arthie thought about her parents. They definitely weren’t even in the area code of cool and they had never been big proponents of PDA. But sometimes, she would look over and see them holding hands as they watched tv or briefly touching each others arms as they passed each other, on their way to do different tasks. 

Arthie realized that she’d never doubted her parents’ love for each other for a second. Looking at Yolanda, she suddenly saw how she’d been taking that for granted.

“I want to date, but how am I supposed to believe in – “

Yolanda glanced over at Arthie. Arthie was so honored to be someone Yolanda felt comfortable venting to that she forgot to keep her expression guarded. She was staring intently at Yolanda with understanding eyes. Yolanda immediately cut herself off and laughed uncomfortably.

“Sorry. That – sorry. Too much.”

“No!” Desperate to assure Yolanda that her feelings were not too much, could never be too much, Arthie reached out and took her hand. Yolanda jerked back and glanced back at the office door. Arthie followed her gaze.

The door was made of glass.

Fortunately, her father seemed really invested in his work. Arthie looked back at Yolanda in time to see the panic leave her eyes. Arthie clasped her hands together in her lap, full of shame and unsure why.

“Sorry.”

“So when’s our next quiz?”

Yolanda was rifling through her papers, actively refusing to make eye contact.

“Uh, three weeks from now.”

“Cool.”

Arthie returned to her binder. Her heart was beating like she’d been running and she didn’t want to think about why. She didn’t want to think about anything but science.


	3. Chapter 3

Arthie had a spring in her step as she walked out of her final class of the day. As usual, her mind was on Yolanda.

After the most awkward tutoring session in the world ended, Yolanda pulled Arthie out onto the front porch and closed the door behind them.

“Sorry for being weird.”

“You weren’t!” Arthie assured her quickly.

“I was. Anyway, want to meet up again tomorrow?”

“Sure! I wasn’t going to say anything, but you definitely need more help with science.”

Yolanda seemed like she was going to say more, but then stopped and smiled. “I really do.”

“Same time tomorrow?”

“Yeah. And maybe after . . . we could have a sleepover or something.” Off Arthie’s astonished face, she started backtracking. “Or we could just hang out. Or not. Or we could just focus on science.”

“No, I – “ Arthie paused to gather her thoughts. For some reason, the thought of spending the night in Yolanda’s house terrified her. She decided to trust her instincts and lied. “I don’t know if my parents would be okay with me staying the night with someone they don’t know.”

Yolanda hid her disappointment behind a wide smile, but Arthie saw through it. Her stomach twinged with guilt.

“That’s cool.”

“But maybe after we finish with science, we could hang out.”

“Okay. We’ll just see where the day takes us.”

And they did. The next day, Arthie showed up at Yolanda’s doorstep (feeling significantly less nervous than she had before). They studied the brain for about an hour. Occasionally, they would take a break so Yolanda could relax and Arthie could stare at Yolanda without the fear of getting distracted from the worksheets. 

Yolanda’s hair shone in the overhead light of the dining room. Her skin looked extremely soft to the touch (not that Arthie had tried after the last time). At one point, Arthie cracked a dumb science pun and Yolanda’s eyes lit up when she grinned. The sight took Arthie’s breath away. She looked like an angel. 

Looking at her, Arthie could understand why she was so popular. She was a beautiful person with a kind personality. Spending time with her made Arthie’s day better. Surely, everyone else who was lucky enough to spend time with Yolanda felt this way.

After they finished their homework, Yolanda took Arthie upstairs and into her room. It didn’t look how Arthie had expected it to look. Not that she’d spent a lot of time thinking about being in Yolanda’s room.

She expected some boy band posters and a bed with girly pink sheets. Instead, the bed sheets were green. There was a window overlooking the front yard and the driveway. Underneath it was a short bookshelf overflowing with books. On top of the shelf, there was a silver boombox. Next to the bed, there was a lamp and a framed picture of Yolanda with her parents.

“Check this out.”

Yolanda walked over to the boombox and turned it on. Run-DMC came blasting out of it. After a listening to it for a few moments, Yolanda turned back to Arthie.

“Isn’t it good?”

“Yeah! I’ve never heard them before.”

“Oh,” Yolanda laughed. “I meant the boom box. It’s new. My parents got it for me as a gift.”

“Oh. Cool. That was nice of them.”

“It was a guilt gift, but whatever.” She paused, then glanced over at Arthie. “What kind of music are you into?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Like . . . Molly Duncan?”

Yolanda nodded, but Arthie could tell she didn’t know who that was. “Maybe you can bring some music next time.”

Arthie grinned. “Next time.”

They spent the next hour together sitting in Yolanda’s room, talking about whatever came to mind, their conversation soundtracked by Yolanda’s music. 

That became their routine. Every day after school, they would meet at Yolanda’s house and study for an hour. Afterwards, they would go up to her room, play each other music, and just talk.

Yolanda opened up about how her parents wouldn’t stay in the same room as each other anymore. Arthie talked about how her parents’ expectations weighed heavier on her every day. They both agreed that, in the event of a zombie apocalypse at their school, they’d both be two of the first to die.

Now, three weeks later, Arthie was still thinking about Yolanda. They had eaten lunch together in the library earlier. The next time they talked, school would be over for the day and Yolanda could tell her how she did on the quiz. At first, Arthie caught herself hoping she did poorly, which made her feel guilty. She wanted Yolanda to do well, she really did. And, even if she aced it, it wasn’t like they’d stop being friends. Hopefully.

She was excited to see her. Arthie had asked her mom if she would be okay with her sleeping over at Yolanda’s house and she said that was fine (as Arthie had assumed she would). So now she had no excuse. She was stumped on how to bring this up to Yolanda in a casual way, but she figured she would just wing it.

She had gotten more comfortable with just winging things, the more time she spent with Yolanda. Yolanda just had that effect on her.

Arthie stepped into the bathroom, which reeked of pot. Standing in the corner were Stacey and Dawn, two of Arthie’s classmates. They were passing a joint back and forth. Arthie was annoyed that she wasn’t going to be able to actually use the bathroom with people standing here. But Dawn and Stacey were her friends and they were both funny people, so she gave them a pass.

She walked over to the sink, with the intention of acting like she’d just come in to wash her hands.

“Arthie!” Stacey said. “We just saw you!”

“When?”

“In the library. With Yolanda.” Stacey snickered. “With a candlestick. And Professor Plum.”

Arthie laughed, turning off the sink. “Yeah, we study science together.”

“Well, we have some gossip on your new study buddy.”

“Oh?” she said, drying her hands.

“She’s a lesbian.”

Arthie froze.

“We have English class with her and every class, she’s always going on and on about the homoerotic undertones in every novel we read. So we thought about it and we realized she’s never shown any interest in Phil, even though he’s hot – “

“ – so hot – “

“ – the hottest. And she never even – “

Stacey and Dawn continued explaining their reasoning, but Arthie could barely hear them over her own thoughts. Yolanda was a lesbian? Why didn’t she tell her? Did she think she would react poorly? Was she reacting poorly?

Stacey and Dawn don’t know anything. None of their points have any merit. But, even as Arthie thought that, she thought over all of their past interactions and she knew it was true.

She felt like she was going to throw up.

“Anyway, we just wanted to tell you because everyone knows that Yolanda is gay – “

“ – and we didn’t start that rumor – “

“ – no! Someone else did. But if people see you guys hanging out, they’re going to think you’re a lesbian too.”

“Just saying.”

The final bell rang. Stacey and Dawn exited the bathroom as Arthie stood there with a wet paper towel in her hands. She heard the halls get louder as they filled up with chatty students all excited to go home.

She had to go. She was supposed to meet up with Yolanda.

Yolanda.

Her stomach twisted again. She turned and looked into the bathroom mirror. She looked panicked. Some of her hair was standing up on one side. As she reached up to smooth it down, her mind flashed back to previous times she had stared into the mirror, fixing her hair, judging her appearance, before meeting up with Yolanda. Why had she cared so much?

The bathroom door banged open, wrenching Arthie from her thoughts. A student she didn’t recognize went into one of the stalls and Arthie rushed out of the bathroom.

The hallways were packed, so Arthie just followed the flow of people until it led her out the front doors of the school. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t hear Yolanda’s voice until it was right behind her.

“Arthie!”

She turned around and her heart lurched at the sight of Yolanda. She was so pretty.

“I was calling you. Didn’t you hear me?”

Arthie stared at her. Was this what a lesbian looked like? Yolanda was way too pretty to be a lesbian. Maybe Dawn and Stacey were wrong and she was stressing out for no reason.

“Arthie? You okay?” Yolanda reached out and touched Arthie’s arm. The touch sparked against Arthie’s skin and she almost jumped backwards. She settled for pulling her arm away.

“I can’t tutor you today.”

Yolanda shrugged. “Okay. We could just – “

“I can’t. I’m feeling sick. I have to go home.”

“Oh no! I hope you feel better soon.”

Over Yolanda’s shoulder, Arthie could see Dawn and Stacey leaning against the school building. They were watching their conversation, grinning. Was everyone watching? Arthie suddenly felt as if hundreds of pairs of eyes were on the two of them.

“I have to go.”

“Okay,” Yolanda said, disappointment tinting her words. “See you.”

Arthie brushed past Yolanda and didn’t look back.


	4. Chapter 4

When Arthie’s alarm went off the next morning, all the memories from the previous day crashed over her. She groaned. She had been such a jerk to Yolanda. Who cares if she’s gay? That doesn’t make her any less of a good friend. Or any less funny. Or less kind. 

Or less beautiful.

“Arthie, didn’t you hear your alarm? Time to get up.” Arthie’s mom cracked open her door.

“I think I’m sick.”

She came in and put a hand on Arthie’s forehead. “You don’t feel hot.”

“Could I please not go to school today?”

Her mom looked into her eyes, analyzing her. Finally, she nodded. “Deal. But you have to go on Monday.”

“Okay.”

“Your dad’s going to be at work and I’m going to run some errands. Can I trust you not to throw a wild party while I’m gone?”

Arthie laughed. “Yes, mom.”

“Good. Get some rest. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Arthie stared at the ceiling, listening to her mother’s footsteps recede. How could she ever face Yolanda again? The idea of spending time alone with her made her stomach turn. But the idea of their friendship being over made her feel even worse.

By the time Arthie heard both her parents’ cars pull out of the driveway, she had made a decision. She would educate herself. Maybe her fear was coming from a lack of consideration. If she did some research, at the very least, she would know the right thing to say for the next time she saw Yolanda.

She grabbed her laptop from where it was charging next to her bed. Might as well start at the very beginning, she thought as she googled the word ‘lesbian’.

“A lesbian is a homosexual woman,” Google said.

“Wow, thanks Google,” Arthie thought drily. She clicked ‘image search’. Multiple pictures came up, some generic stock photos, some from weddings. She saw a few celebrities she knew. To Arthie’s surprise, a lot of the women were very feminine looking. Immediately, she felt ashamed for assuming every lesbian looked extremely masculine. She hated it when people looked at her and assumed things based on her age or her race. And now here she was, stereotyping others.

She googled ‘sexuality’. One of the google autofill answers said ‘sexuality quiz’ and Arthie’s breath caught. 

“I’ll . . . look at that later,” she thought. “Maybe.”

Googling ‘sexuality’ led her down a deep rabbit hole, teaching her terms like ‘bisexual’ and ‘asexual’. And the flags. There were so many flags. She thought there was just the one, but apparently, there were hundreds. It was overwhelming. She considered taking a break, but she also felt like she was just getting started.

An hour later, she was still staring intently at her laptop, multiple tabs open, scrolling through forums and message boards. Eventually, she discovered an (illegal) queer library. The webpage was full of links to queer books from The Price of Salt to Middlesex to Oranges are not the Only Fruit. Arthie clicked on Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and the page opened to a large document full of photocopied pages.

Two hours later, Arthie had tears streaming down her cheeks. She had no idea love stories could make her feel this much.

[“So I lean in toward him, and my heart is in my throat. 'I want to hold your hand,' I say softly.  
Because we're in public. Because I don't know if he's out.  
'So hold it,' he says.  
And I do.”]

Arthie scrubbed a hand over her cheek, sniffling. She had been so wrong. About lesbians. About Yolanda. About everything.

She opened a new tab and googled ‘sexuality quiz’. Her mouse hovered over the top result. Whatever the results were, she finally felt like she was ready for them. She clicked the link.


	5. Chapter 5

Saturday found Arthie sitting her car in Yolanda’s driveway. She knew she could have waited until Monday to talk to her, but . . . no. This couldn’t wait.

She took a deep breath and got out of the car. When she walked up the steps and rang the doorbell, the door swung open. However, before she could blurt out an apology, she saw it was Yolanda’s mom standing in the doorway.

“Yes?”

Arthie realized she had never met Yolanda’s mom before. She put out a hand. “I’m Arthie. I’m – I was tutoring your daughter in science.”

“Oh! Arthie! Of course.” She shook her hand. “Yoyo’s upstairs in her room.”

As Arthie entered the house, Ms. Rivas yelled up the stairs. 

“Yolanda! Arthie’s here!”

Arthie climbed up the stairs, heart in her throat. She just needs to talk to her. She’ll see Yolanda’s face and everything will fall into place.

She reached the top of the stairs and saw that Yolanda’s bedroom door was closed. Arthie ignored the dread building in her stomach and pushed forward. She knocked lightly on the door. After getting no response, she gently nudged the door open.

Yolanda was sitting on her bed, reading a book. She looked up when Arthie came in.

“Hey.” She looked angry. The rush of positive feelings Arthie usually felt when seeing Yolanda was replaced with guilt and fear. She wanted to run away and hide.

“Hey,” she said, ignoring that instinct and stepping into the bedroom.

Yolanda looked back at her book, clearly done with the conversation. Arthie hated it when anyone was angry with her, but it felt especially terrible when it was Yolanda. She took a deep breath. Nothing to do but forge ahead.

“So, about me bolting on Thursday – “

“Let me guess. You heard that I’m gay and now you feel weird about hanging out with me.”

“How – “

“Dawn and Stacey.”

Arthie cursed mentally.

“They approached me after you ran off like I was threatening to murder you.” Yolanda’s book had been tossed aside by this point, forgotten. “And after everything with my parents.” She sighed. “Dad moved out yesterday.”

Arthie winced. She wanted to apologize, but Yolanda was clearly not done.

“How am I supposed to watch their relationship fall apart and not think . . .” She pressed her lips into a tight line and looked up at Arthie. “But you . . . I thought you were different. But you’re not. You’re just like all of those other idiotic girls who think I’m going to turn them. All you care about is making sure your real friends don’t think you’re a dyke.”

Arthie was taken aback. She’d never heard anyone use the word dyke before. She was feeling incredibly overwhelmed. This was a bad idea. She never should have come here. All her presence was doing was making things worse.

“Look,” Yolanda said, glancing away. “If you don’t want to be friends anymore, that’s fine, you can go.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Arthie said, finally speaking out. “I would never end our friendship over that.”

“Oh, you wouldn’t? Wow, you’re such a saint.” Yolanda’s words dripped with sarcasm, but Arthie could feel the hurt behind them. She figured she deserved that.

“I would never,” she reiterated. “Besides, you still need me for science, right?” Arthie’s heart was in her chest, hoping against hope that a joke was the olive branch this conversation needed to end well.

Yolanda stared at Arthie for a long moment, frowning. Arthie stayed completely still, afraid even the smallest movement would end their friendship forever.

“Don’t play with me,” Yolanda finally said. Arthie’s forehead wrinkled in confusion.

“What?”

In a fluid move, Yolanda got up off the bed and walked the four steps over to Arthie. With Yolanda directly in front of her, Arthie felt her heart speed up. Yolanda reached up and touched Arthie’s face. She looked deep into Arthie’s eyes, searching.

Immediately, Arthie’s whole body went cold with fear. She stepped back and Yolanda dropped her hand.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

Shame flooded Arthie’s system. Tears sprung to her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Yolanda was facing away from her, walking to the window. “Go away, Arthie.”

She sounded like she was fighting tears too.

Arthie backed up and rushed out of the room. Everything was blurry as she raced down the stairs and out the front door. Once she had made it inside her car, she finally started to sob.


	6. Chapter 6

Yolanda wasn’t in class today. Every time Arthie tried to focus on something else, her eyes kept drifting to Yolanda’s empty chair. For the first time ever, science class was making her heart heavier. Focusing on the lesson didn’t help her mood like it usually would. It didn’t make her think about how small she was in the grand scheme of things. Instead, it reminded her of how small she’d felt on Saturday.

No one had ever been that angry with her before. She felt terrible.

An eternity later, the bell rang and the students started to file out for their next classes. Arthie picked herself up and started to gather her stuff.

“Arthie, could I see you for a second?” Ms. Richardson said.

“Yes, ma’am?” Arthie said, approaching the teacher’s desk, books in hand.

“I just wanted to say thank you for helping Yolanda. As soon as you started tutoring her, her grades showed extreme improvement. Maybe you could make a good science teacher someday.”

“But – “ But she told me she was still doing really poorly, Arthie almost said. But she stopped herself. 

All the puzzle pieces were finally starting to fall into place. And it was obviously a ‘Baby’s First Jigsaw Puzzle’ with four pieces. Arthie was feeling extremely stupid for taking so long to put it together.

“Yes?”

Arthie smiled at Ms. Richardson. “I hadn’t considered teaching. That’s a great idea. I’ll look into it.”

“Good. You know, something I’ve learned in my hmm-hmm years of life: just try to find what makes you happy.”

As Arthie left class, Ms. Richardson’s words echoed in her head. She was right. Arthie had been so stupid for so long. And the answer had been right in front of her the whole time.

She wasn’t going to let Yolanda slip away.

As soon as school was over, she raced to her car and drove to Yolanda’s house. When Ms. Rivas opened the door, Arthie explained that she had brought Yolanda the day’s homework so she wouldn’t fall behind.

“Aww! Yolanda is so lucky to have a friend like you.”

“I’m lucky to have her.”

When Yolanda’s mom let her inside, Arthie stood at the foot of the stairs, feeling a familiar rush of fear. But rather than let her doubts overtake her, she started climbing.

Yolanda was lying in her bed, back against the headboard, laptop open on her lap. She looked up when Arthie entered and her expression fell.

“What are you doing here?”

“I told your mom I brought you your homework.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“I didn’t.”

Yolanda frowned. “Look, you don’t have to come here anymore. Or talk to me at school or anything, it’s fine.”

“I’m sorry Stacey and Dawn were mean to you. And I’m sorry I reacted so poorly. ‘Nothing is worse than the secret humiliation of being insulted by proxy’.”

She paused, considering Arthie’s apology. “That’s pretty smart.”

“It’s from Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda.”

Yolanda smiled hesitantly. She closed the laptop and set it next to her. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she faced Arthie. “You’ve read Love, Simon?”

Arthie nodded. “I did some research. Read some books. Took a quiz.”

“And?” Yolanda’s voice was hesitant and Arthie could hear the fear threading through it. The idea that Yolanda might be just as nervous as her gave Arthie a little courage.

She stepped forward until she was directly in front of Yolanda. She put out her hands. After a stressful pause, Yolanda took them and Arthie pulled her to her feet.

They were staring into each other’s eyes, a breath apart. For the first time since their fight, Yolanda seemed genuinely unguarded.

“You lied to me,” Arthie said, grinning. “About your test scores.”

Yolanda looked embarrassed. “I just thought – “

Arthie leaned forward and kissed her. 

She had expected her heart to start racing, for her hands to shake, for her stomach to start fluttering. Instead, the opposite happened. For the first time in Yolanda’s presence, she felt completely calm. She felt content. It was like she was finally doing exactly what she was meant to be doing.

When they pulled back, they pressed their foreheads together, grinning.

“You know,” Arthie said. “If you wanted to hang out with me that badly, you could have just asked. You didn’t have to pretend to be bad at science.”

Yolanda shushed her, blushing. She cupped Arthie’s cheek with her hand. She was looking at her with so much love, Arthie had to fight the impulse to look away. She went in for a second kiss.

When she pulled back, she wrapped her arms around Arthie’s waist.

“So . . . you did research?”

“Mmm hmm.”

“Have you heard any Tegan and Sara?”

“Uh, no.”

“What about Hayley Kiyoko? Have you seen the movie version of Love, Simon?”

“There’s a movie version?!”

“I have so much to teach you.”

Arthie had never been happier. “Sounds good to me.”


End file.
